Best economical small car to drive for Grab Taxi. Mirage good? E85?

[CrossBones]

Hi

My girlfriend wants to be a Grab driver in Chiang Mai

 

I am looking for the best car to get for her. I understand that 10 years old is the maximum. So i am looking at cars around 5 years old with fairly low milage. 

 

Im looknig at: Mirage, Jazz, Fiesta, March, Almera, Altrage. maybe others

 

I had the idea to convert a car to E85 for the cheapest fuel.

 

So far im looking at Mirage, it seems to be the most economical although the boot space is tiny so no good for airport runs. It should be the most economical for city driving (not highway) and also depreciation and reliability is a concern. 

 

Can anyone give any advice? thanks

Edited June 8, 2018 by CrossBones

[transam]

Are not some on your list a bit small for a taxi....?

I would buy a car that from factory can use the cheapest fuel.

[siam2007]

4 hours ago, transam said:

Are not some on your list a bit small for a taxi....?

I would buy a car that from factory can use the cheapest fuel.

 

I have been on several very small GRAB cars at several locations in TH. sometimes the driver will call or sms you before and ask how many PAX. Easy to avoid airport trips as a driver, as they can see where the destination is or where someone wants to be picked up. Would be even more easy if GRAB had an option to add the number of PAX looking for a ride each time when ordering

[stevenl]

I would refuse you if you turn up with a Mirage (or Jazz, March, etc.).

[gaviolit]

honda have e85 ready from  factory. 

[transam]

2 minutes ago, stevenl said:

I would refuse you if you turn up with a Mirage (or Jazz, March, etc.).

Reminds me of my London mini cab days, I had a Ford Granada, but many others on the firm  had a beat up Morris Marina or Cortina...The smiles on pickup told all..

[HAKAPALITA]

17 minutes ago, stevenl said:

I would refuse you if you turn up with a Mirage (or Jazz, March, etc.).

If he had a Ford he wouldnt turn up at all.No Gearbox. !!

[HAKAPALITA]

17 minutes ago, transam said:

Reminds me of my London mini cab days, I had a Ford Granada, but many others on the firm  had a beat up Morris Marina or Cortina...The smiles on pickup told all..

The Granada and Escort RS was like the end of Fords Glory Days. how could you not love them.?

[transam]

5 minutes ago, HAKAPALITA said:

The Granada and Escort RS was like the end of Fords Glory Days. how could you not love them.?

Granada Ghia was a classic, wish I still had it....

[1FinickyOne]

Try an Altis as it keeps resale value and is easily saleable as it is used for taxis in Bkk...

 

But please, sit with her and go over the operating expenses of a car beyond gas - - there is tires, insurance, maintenance etc etc... I have had a few Uber rides in CM that were so cheap I felt bad for the drivers and by the look of surprise, I think they do not get many tips... I hope for her sake that grab is a bit more expensive now that they bought out Uber - - good luck. 

[wump]

Correct me if I am wrong. But isn't the energy value (?) of ethanol some 30% lower than petrol, eating up any savings that the price per litre might suggest? IMO far better go convert to LPG/CNG.

And please don't get her a tiny little Mirage or Jazz. Camry is the way to go.

[sirineou]

Have a 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage. Never had a problem with it. The back seat folds 60/40 so you can fold the whole back seat down and curry a hell of a lot stuff, or part of ir.

When we bought it I was skeptical of the small engine , but it has plenty of power and is very economical to run. Last time we were in Thailand a few months ago we went to the airport and had four people in the car (Me, wife, wife's sister and mom) , a large suitcase, and two carrions, everyone was comfortable (tough , wife , sis and mom are small people) and the cur run at 120k with ease. 

 

[sirineou]

10 minutes ago, wump said:

Correct me if I am wrong. But isn't the energy value (?) of ethanol some 30% lower than petrol, eating up any savings that the price per litre might suggest? IMO far better go convert to LPG/CNG.

And please don't get her a tiny little Mirage or Jazz. Camry is the way to go.

A Mersentes Benz would be even better.

of course a bigger car is better, but firstly, one might not want  to spend as much, and how long do you think it will take for her to even make back the initial investment at Grab rates? then you have depreciation.  wear and tear, fuel consumption, insurance.

PS: LPG/CNG. will significantly reduce luggage carrying capacity.

Edited June 9, 2018 by sirineou

[wump]

9 minutes ago, sirineou said:

A Mersentes Benz would be even better.

of course a bigger car is better, but firstly, one might not want  to spend as much, and how long do you think it will take for her to even make back the initial investment at Grab rates? then you have depreciation.  wear and tear, fuel consumption, insurance.

Well, op has to do the calculation for that beforehand. I used Grab and Uber quite a lot and I never got a compact car or whatever you call them. There is also ratings on the Grab app and there are quite a lot of tall and/or fat foreigners and with Chiang Mai growing fast in tourism, there will also be a lot of tourists with large luggage pieces, Thai or foreign. Getting a midsized car instead of a tiny little one really shouldn't break the bank.

Edit: With LPG you can put the gas tank where the spare wheel is and not lose ANY carrying capacity. This is the way we do it in Germany. No idea why in Thailand people only use these funny tanks in the boot. Probably cheaper. If you're worried about losing your spare wheel then you could just get a car where LPG comes factory-fitted.

Edited June 9, 2018 by wump

[sirineou]

23 minutes ago, wump said:

Well, op has to do the calculation for that beforehand. I used Grab and Uber quite a lot and I never got a compact car or whatever you call them. There is also ratings on the Grab app and there are quite a lot of tall and/or fat foreigners and with Chiang Mai growing fast in tourism, there will also be a lot of tourists with large luggage pieces, Thai or foreign. Getting a midsized car instead of a tiny little one really shouldn't break the bank.

 I agree with all that you said above, and I also like to qualify my answers by saying that I have never used Grub/ Uber.

IMO (uneducate on the subject) such endeavours are for those who already have a car and  want to make some extra money. To invest 500,000 bht specifically for such endeavours would have a very poor ROI in my uneducated on the subject opinion.

But not a bad idea to buy an inexpensive car for personal consumption, and make some extra money on the side.

Edited June 9, 2018 by sirineou

[electric]

OP ... don't necessarily be swayed by E85.

 

Getting a car that runs on E85 sounds beaut on paper, given that E85 is around 7 baht per litre cheaper than 91 petrol.

 

However, your car will guzzle E85 much quicker than 91 petrol, meaning less kms per litre.

 

My car is factory set up to run on any petrol up to E85. I tried E85 for 6 months, then 91 petrol for 6 months. Kept detailed stats on fuel economy, litres used, pump prices for both fuels. Did a mixture of around 10,000kms highway and town driving.

 

Turns out, E85 would have been cheaper by only 200 baht total, had I used it all year. Was an interesting comparison.

[DJ54]

Not looks at cars you’ve spoke of. My experience with buying used 

car from car lot was the prices for new vs. used the used prices are 

ridiculous. But maybe I got taken. Wouldn’t buy used again. Suspect

the cars at dealer may have been mostly repo. Cars from bank or other lender. 

[JaseTheBass]

Suzuki Ciaz.

Its by far the best riding and comfortable small car you get here.

Sent from my R2D2 droid using my C3P0 manservant

[Just Weird]

On ‎6‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 4:28 PM, sirineou said:

Have a 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage...it has plenty of power and is very economical to run. 

 

Plenty of power, 78 bhp?  And you're impressed with it's being able to gasp it's way to the heady heights of 74mph (120kph)!

Edited June 10, 2018 by Just Weird

[sirineou]

1 hour ago, Just Weird said:

Plenty of power, 78 bhp?  And you're impressed with it's being able to gasp it's way to the heady heights of 74mph (120kph)!

 We cruse at 120k plenty fast for as and Thai highways , speed cameras and Thai police. plenty of power for our needs.

[JAS21]

Should you not be looking at a diesel ...our 3.2Ltr Everest is more economical in traffic than our 1.5Ltr Honda Civic

[HAKAPALITA]

1 hour ago, JAS21 said:

Should you not be looking at a diesel ...our 3.2Ltr Everest is more economical in traffic than our 1.5Ltr Honda Civic

Dont you realise Thais copy the west, soon you will have to pay to use a commercial engined vehicles within City Limits, they wont miss that easy money.With total ban to follow.

[jay1980]

In BKK if when I order a 'grab car' (not grab taxi which can be ordered from the same app but has a different price structure)  it is usually a Mitsubishi Attrage or Toyota Avenza

 

They often have advertising on the side for the Traveloka flight booking app, talking to the driver, the get extra money buy having there car wrapped in this logo, so maybe worth looking into

 

Hope that helps

[JAS21]

2 hours ago, HAKAPALITA said:

Dont you realise Thais copy the west, soon you will have to pay to use a commercial engined vehicles within City Limits, they wont miss that easy money.With total ban to follow.

Soon as in ten to twenty years ...

[HAKAPALITA]

34 minutes ago, JAS21 said:

Soon as in ten to twenty years ...

I dont think so Hamburg started today i think, London very soon. Why even bother with Diesel Trucks,you only get little engines and expensive diesel unless you have a big family..pointless,

[balo]

I would look for a LPG car , that runs on gas .   You'll save 50%  on fuel costs.

It's very common in Thailand , you can convert a car for around 20k . 

 

[VocalNeal]

Not sure whether national or only Bangkok but this might be a good time to mention that taxi's have to be 1600cc or bigger. Which in Bangkok is why one never sees any of the cars mentioned in this thread as taxi's. 

 

Might be worth noting for when the whole UBER/GRAB thing hits the fan. 

 

Answer to the OP. Toyota Corolla. It is what people expect when they call a taxi. Suzuki Carry MPV? Hardly economical but... and the LPG tank which it probably already has is underneath.

Edited June 12, 2018 by VocalNeal

[xylophone]

On ‎6‎/‎8‎/‎2018 at 9:03 PM, CrossBones said:

Im looknig at: Mirage, Jazz, Fiesta, March, Almera, Altrage. maybe others

I have a Suzuki Swift which I love, but boot space is limited.

 

The Nissan Almera has a load of room in it and is comfortable, so give that a look.

[stevenl]

1 hour ago, Nick85 said:

I used the Grab taxi in Phuket on phukta and in Bangkok. excellent application, later ordered again through orangecarphuket.com

they have cars in rent and a taxi, the airport left for 700 baht

Spammers are promoting this specific car rental company on all kind of websites at the moment.

[ardokano]

Honda City..its near you get for what you pay.